DORAL, Fla. — Thousands of Venezuelans are piling into cars, buses and planes en route to New Orleans to vote in their homeland's presidential election.

With just six weeks of preparation, Venezuelans in Florida have organized to raise money, contract buses and arrange car pools.

The largest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S. lives in South Florida. They must travel to Louisiana to vote after President Hugo Chavez, who died in March after a two-year battle with cancer, closed the Miami consulate last year.